I described my return to Castle Federation as being to write three stories:
- the fight for James Tecumseh’s soul.
- the fight for the survival of his new nation.
- the fight for the soul of the successor states.
Unbroken Faith is the finale of that trilogy and I think makes a good capstone for the entire Castle Federation setting.
– Glynn Stewart
On December 5, 2023, Unbroken Faith was released which caps off the Dakotan Confederacy trilogy and ends the Castle Federation universe. Below is a compilation of questions Glynn answered while he was writing the final book.
Q: How would you describe this book?
Unbroken Faith is James Tecumseh struggling with the fact that the nation he served is dead, but its member star systems and ideals are still alive. It’s about what the end of the collapse and the beginning of stabilization of a fallen empire looks like from the inside at the moment. It’s about what faith those successor states can still have in their shared ideals – and in each other. And it’s about standing for those ideals.
Q: You’re transported into the world of the Castle Federation. Where is the first place you’re going? Why?
Given the current state of the Castle Federation universe, the first place I am going is as far away from the Terran Commonwealth as I possibly can. Because they’ve got past the initial “fracturing into successor states” stage and are starting the “violent consolidation” stage…
Q: What is the meaning of Tecumseh’s name? Does it fit his personality?
James Tecumseh – “Replacer” and “Shooting Star”
For a military officer who looks up to his famous namesake (intentionally unclear whether JT is actually related to Chief Tecumseh) and ends up challenging a nation built on Manifest Destiny…yeah, it probably fits.
(Of course, said nation was originally HIS nation, but that’s another issue entirely…)
Q: Does Tecumseh have any nicknames? If so, how did he come by them?
Answering all of these for Dakotan Confederacy subseries of Castle Federation, so the MC in question is James Tecumseh. James, unlike his counterpart Kyle Roberts in the original series, has not suffered the indignities of an adoring media.
He is, however, slowly realizing that when ANYONE in the newborn Dakotan Confederacy says “The Admiral” they only ever mean one person…
Q: Where is one place in the setting Tecumseh is trying to avoid?
In James Tecumseh’s case, probably the entire Solar System and most of the “Rump Commonwealth” that still proclaims loyalty to Sol. Pretty much no matter what goes down politically over this book or even the next few years of the setting, it will be a LONG time before setting foot in the Rump isn’t going to see him immediately arrested for treason.
Q: How does your MC feel about marriage?
Well, James Tecumseh figured he was married to the Navy for most of his life. Then he met Abey Todacheeney. In the initial chaos, she was planning to seduce him to have some level of control if he went warlord with the local fleet. By the time she succeeded, she knew that wasn’t going to be a problem.
JT still isn’t entirely sure how he feels about marriage in general, but he is MARRIED now and figures that was the right call.
Q: How are weddings celebrated in your setting?
That’s…a big question given the scale of the setting of the Castle Federation books. Between the assorted star-nations, there are about twelve hundred major star systems and roughly 1.5 trillion human beings in the 28th Century. So weddings are celebrated at least twelve hundred and probably more like twelve million different ways. But at the heart: people swear oaths to each other in the presence of family and friends.
The example in the book is James Tecumseh’s own wedding to Abey Todacheeney, a small ceremony of about a dozen participants…surrounded by bodyguards, in a hand-built plaza in the shade of the largest and holiest tree on the planet. After processions through the surrounding city attended by tens of thousands of well-wishers.
He is, after all, The Admiral of the Confederacy Navy and SHE is the head of the planetary government!
The ceremony itself is conducted by the President of the Dakotan Interstellar Confederacy and takes about fifteen minutes. Just getting in to the ceremony site through the surrounding park takes them more than fifteen minutes!
Q: Is there a corruption arc in your story? If not, speak about any other arc.
I’m not sure I would necessarily describe it as a corruption arc so much as a window into the mind of someone who has already fallen. We spend a lot of time in the head of Imperator James Calvin Walkingstick. At no point is the story justifying what he has done and who he has become. But that only means his internal monologue and staff discussions are working OVERTIME to justify it to HIM.
Q: What was your process to create this setting and make it realistic?
This setting began, honestly, with an attempt to justify starfighters against the usual complaints. To do so, I settled on economics. Space travel in the Castle Federation setting is done with absolutely massive, mind-bogglingly expensive starships.That made smaller, more expendable, fighters have an economic justification – losing a starship is a BIG DEAL. I got to work from there.
Q: Someone threatens your protagonist’s loved one’s life. How do they respond?
It…depends.
James Tecumseh is disturbingly of the Captain Carrot School of “personal is not the same as important.” On the other hand, his wife is a sub-sovereign head of state for the nation he helped create.
So…context one, he’s bringing a interstellar battle fleet.
Context two…uh…he’s trusting the assassin who made herself his bodyguard to “handle it.”(The fleet might kill fewer people)
Q: What’s Tecumseh’s drink of choice? What food, if any, does he absolutely hate?
Admiral James Tecumseh is a military spacer, so his most common drink is definitely black coffee. His steward is working on introducing him to tea as a more flavorful alternative, but JT is mostly operating on “is it caffeinated?”
As for food, he’s pretty broad-minded. His lack of allergies or food intolerances of any kind has served him well in working his way up through the Terran Commonwealth Navy—though it’s less important now that he’s in charge of the Dakota Confederacy Navy!
Q: Do you have any LGBT+ characters?
They tend to show up, yes. In this particular work, two villains are non-binary (one in the current sense, one as part of a particular cultural transhuman/artificial intersex movement). Two of the close allies to the lead (including one POV character) are Aro-Pansexual.
The lead’s wife is bisexual, though I’m not sure that’s actually come on page in 3 books. Honestly, in hindsight, this ended up a low-queer content book for me…
Q: Would Tecumseh stand out in our world?
Not physically. I’d be a touch worried about how an older Native man used to being a senior military officer would get in trouble in most of North America, though that is an unfortunate reflection on us not on James Tecumseh. Oh, and he’ll set off any metal detector he walks through since he has two cybernetic limbs!
Q: What does Walkingstick think about Tecumseh?
Imperator James Walkingstick thought of James Tecumseh as a protege, another Native American man from North America he could shepherd up the ranks.
And while Walkingstick found JT’s sense of honor aggravating, he also respected it. Right up until JT betrayed Walkingstick to serve the people he was tasked to protect.
So he likes JT. He respects JT. And he, still, feels completely betrayed by JT.
Q: What does your antagonist care about?
Imperator James Calvin Walkingstick wants to save the Terran Commonwealth. It’s falling apart around him and he is going to fix it. The fracturing will stop. The rebels will be brought in line – the tyrants and warlords first, but the newborn democratic states have to rejoin too.
He’s going to restore the Commonwealth. And he will do WHATEVER it takes.
Unbroken Faith, the third book in the Dakotan Confederacy and the finale of the Castle Federation is available now as an ebook, paperback or audiobook.
I love the Cadtle Federation Universe, and my favourite character is “The Admiral”.
I hope for more stories and, maybe, for a meetimg between The Admiral and The Space Fox.
I Originally picked up Space Carrier Avalon on audible because it was included in my membership and it sounded interesting. I absolutely fell in love with the entire series. I’ve read alot of space operas and sci-fi in general, this is easily my favorite. I am truly sad to see it end but it wrapped up beautifully. Thank you for an amazing journey.